In the field of aircraft landing gear, the wheels are generally equipped with taper roller bearings which are engaged on an axle of the landing gear and are preloaded by a nut at the extremity of the axle which bears against one of the bearings, the other bearing pushing against a stop of the axle. The bearings are not generally mounted directly on the axle, but a liner is interposed between the axle and the bearings notably in order to protect the axle from the flows of heat released by the brake discs that are accommodated in the wheel. This liner is routinely referred to as an axle protector.
Recently, consideration has been given to the possibility of preloading the bearings directly on the axle protector, which would be provided in the circumstance in which a stop is present at one of its extremities and a preloading nut is present at the other of its extremities, the assembly then being slipped as it is onto the axle and being immobilized axially by means of the axle nut.
However, the axle protector in question is in the form of a tube of small thickness, and the passage of the bearings requires the height of the threads not to exceed the seat on which the bearing closest to the thread will rest, which leaves very little thickness available for the production of the thread. The production of a suchlike thread at the extremity of such a fine tube is accordingly not readily feasible, notably for reasons of fatigue resistance.